can't wait to see him swing that club again. remember, we want to hear from you. just logon at cnn.com/fredericka. we'll share your comments. tony harris coming up next with more of "the newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> it matches the day. >> you have a great day. thank you. it is wednesday, march 17th, happy st. patrick's day, everybody. top stories now in the "cnn newsroom." some people think that our plan is too ambitious, but the bottom line is that we have lagged behind for far too long. >> so here we go again. detroit announcing plans this hour to close dozens of schools and replace some with new campuses that cover preschool through college? plus this -- >> this is a matter of life and death for many americans.

while the gop is playing politics with innocent american lives, one cannot morally sit by. the bill is much than it should be, but it is a start. >> the showdown over a health care bill. cnn i-reporters weigh in. while president obama tries to get undecided democrats off the bench and fargo's showdown with the red river. sandbaggers including school kids are out in force and the national guard is on the way. good morning, everyone. i'm tony harris and you are in the "cnn newsroom." we are seeing it all over the country. huge deficits, teacher layoffs and school closings. detroit's public schools are on the chopping block and an announcement expected in a couple of minutes here. allan chernoff is in detroit and good to see you. how many schools for play here in detroit? >> reporter: tony, we're talking

about more than 40 schools. robert bob, the emergency financial manager of the public school system gave the number 45 a few days ago. it looks like we're going to talk about 45 buildings within the system in any event and that's more than one-quarter of all of the schools in this city. a massive announcement, and i have to say some people here are absolutely mystified, tony. this is why. this is the report from excellent schools detroit, a community organization that all of this is based upon, it's a plan to revitalize the public school system and within this report, the report says why we are hopeful. it's talking about how we're greatly encouraged by certain schools and one of those schools they talk about in here, it's going to be shut down. carston's elementary where 98% of third graders meet or exceed state standards in reading, 95% do so in math and that compares with single digits for the

entire system. we spoke to the principal of the school and she said this is unreal. why is carston's being shut down? because the area has been abandoned. very few people actually live in that area and tony, that's a major factor behind all of this closing because so many people would be moving out of detroit or moving their children out of the public school system. 84,000 kids right now, the projection is that could drop by one-third over the next four years. the whole idea here is to save $31 million by all these school closings and these would happen in june at end of this current school year and what they really want to achieve, a graduation rate of 98% within five years. right now it's 58% graduating from high school, a long way to go, but the people behind this plan are saying they want detroit to be known as the fastest-improving school district in the entire nation. >> allan chernoff for us.

allan, appreciate it. once again, we're expecting the announcement about detroit's schools in about ten minutes and you can catch it live right here in the cnn "newsroom." a fight end to budget cuts for public schools tops our big stories. all right. students in to peek a kansas, taking their message to the steps of the statehouse. they've seen programs including banned athletics and foreign languages eliminated. they say it is affecting the quality of their education. >> i know they're trying to understand and they're just not in it and they don't understand how it's affecting our schools directly. >> later this hour, i will talk to the superintendent of maryland schools, nancy grasmick about cutbacks there, improving the nation's public schools is the focus of conversation right now on capitol hill. education secretary arnie duncan spelling out a plan to reform no child left behind. you are looking at live pictures of the senate committee hearing. duncan explaining the

administration's plan for more flexibility and higher standards. the heat is on as the fight over health care reform heads toward a showdown this week, the political arm twisting has persuaded one dechl democratic lawmaker to back the reform effort. dennis kucinich voted against the house version of the bill, but in an announcement last hour kucinich said he will support the current plan. >> i've decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation. if my vote is to be counted, let it count now for passage of the bill. hopefully in the direction of comprehensive health care reform. we must include coverage for those excluded from this bill. we must free the states. we must have control over private insurance companies and the costs the very existence

imposes on american families. >> with kucinich now in the yes column, follow along here. we've got 26 democrats who have indicated to cnn that they are likely to vote against the legislation. nine of those say they may reconsider if their specific concerns are met. needless to say the president and party leaders are working hard trying to win over wobbly democrats. law makers are also hearing from their constituents back home. live now to capitol hill and senior congressional correspondent dana bash. if you would, talk us to about the administration's lobbying and another question here, dennis kucinich turned from no to yes. could that decision move some who are simply undecided? >> reporter: it is unclear if he will move any that are undecided because most democrats who are undecided are on the other side of the political spectrum within the democratic party for dennis kucinich, rather. most are conservative democrats from republican-leaning districts and in fact, tony, we

wanted to kind of get a sense of what it was like to be one of those democrats so i went yesterday to talk to john bochair, he is a freshman from ohio and he voted no on the house health care bill and he says the version that we'll vote on now which is a senate version with some changes could go further in it doing what he want which is is more cost containment and more deficit reduction and more of a focus waste, fraud and abuse. so take a look at some of what was going on in his office. >> the decision i'm faced with is voting on an imperfect bill or doing nothing and we just had calls from constituents and my chief of staff. his wife works for a small business and they just had an increase in premiums. i'm not afraid to stand up and take a tough vote even if it means taking on our leadership, and it was a very difficult decision to come to, you know, on the first version. our office is under siege right now. we're getting calls from not

only in the district, but all over the country. >> look at this, the phones have not stopped ringing. >> you should see our district office. i answer my calls from time to time and hear what folks have to say. >> it's congressman bochair. we can agree on this, that the system does need to be reformed and we can do it in a way that allows folks to have more choices, would you agree? >> you're a freshman. this could be a tough vote, this could be a make it or break it vote and could decide whether you come back or not. >> whether i serve two terms or 20 we want to make the right decision for the people of our district and ohio and the country. >> reporter: like many other undecided house democrats, tony, what he told me he's waiting for is legislative language which doesn't exist yet and also the information about how much this legislation will cost. we don't have that either. just one little footnote. i just checked with the congressman's office to see what the grand total of the calls and e-mails were yesterday. get this, 1200 phone calls. >> wow! >> and 1600 e-mails just to give

you a little con text. they usually get about 500 phone calls a day to his office. >> one quick one. what's going on with the cbo scoring? i thought we were going to get somebody yesterday and i thought wield get something last week and still nothing. >> that's the $900 billion question. we'll see. we've been going back to democratic sources on it, minute by minute and hourly basis. we still don't have it. what's going on very quickly behind the scenes which we've seen so many times as they've tried to develop legislation is they're going back and forth with the congressional budget office effectively trying to get to yes. trying to get to the point where they feel that the figure, the overall cost figure is at a point where they can get enough votes to pass it and even more importantly, perhaps the amount that it would reduce the deficit as estimated by the congressional budget office. that is something that is absolutely critical to wing over votes and other reasons. the congressman i talked to, he

said the amount to reduce the deficit could sway his vote. >> let's get the cbo on the phone, and i want to know what's going on here because i want to get it posted so folks can read it. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. congressman jason altmire of pennsylvania is feeling the heat. supporters and a few opponents of reform clashed outside altmire's office in pennsylvania. >> hell it ain't! >> on cnn's "american morning" altmire says he still hasn't made up his mind. >> i need to see the finished product and see that we're restraining the growth of health care in the long-term because we're never going to get the long-term deficit in order unless we address health care costs and we also have to bring down the costs of people who have it now. >> so you have something to say about health care reform? give me a call, 1-877-742-5760, some of you already have. man, have you ever. here's what some of you are

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german catholics say they listened for compassion today and they got silence. pope benedict held his weekly audience today, but he did not mention the sex abuse scandal that has engulfed the church and his native germany. vatican watchers say his silence may fuel the perception that he helped shield abusive priests. the vatican is a political as well as a religious institution. like any good political operation, the pope's damage control machine is in overdrive. here's senior international correspondent, nick roberts. >> reporter: the questions at the center of the crisis are what did pope benedict know and when did he know about it? and what did he do about it? >> what we're seeing is a global phenomenon in a global church, a global system at work with the vatican at its center. >> reporter: there are questions that began two decades ago when

the pope was known as cardinal joseph ratzinger. for 23 years he was the vatican's chief investigator into allegations of abuse by priests. >> in 2001 he wrote to every bishop in the world telling them in the letter that every case of a priest abuse of a child is to be referred to the vatican. >> reporter: they were praising his investigative work after he took control of abuse cases. according to one of the vatican's top prosecutors who is also a priest, cardinal ratzinger showed great wisdom and firmness in dealing with these cases and he said he showed great courage dealing with the most difficult and thorniest of them, and therefore he said to accuse the pope of a cover up is false. but the pressure just keeps mounting. newly released details of abuse in germany are raising questions about the pontiff's judgment, even before he came to rome overseeing cases of abuse.

in 1980 when the pope was still a bishop in germany, he oversaw the case of a priest involved in child abuse. the pope moved the priest from one diocese to another, his own, so that the priest could get therapy. several years later the priest was convicted of child abuse. the pope's critics say he should have paid more attention at the time and taken child abuse more seriously. in germany over the past few months several hundred allegations of abuse have been made, new cases are surfacing in holland, spain, switzerland and brazil, but nowhere is the pressure on the pope and the church greater than in ireland. pressure is growing on the leader of the irish church, cardinal sean brady to step down, following revelations he knew of abuse in the 1970s. he kept it from police, and had the victim sign an oath of secrecy. the priest involved father

brandon smith, the irish church's most prolific pedophile continued to abuse children for another two decades. cardinal brady says he'll only resign if the pope tells him. officials here at the vatican have responded saying that in the coming days the pope will send a letter to the irish people. nick robertson, cnn, vatican city. stay with us, we will be heading back to detroit. a plan is in the works to shut down schools in order to save the school system. we're back in a moment. [ female announcer ] for dazzling white teeth, give toothpaste the brp=h off. you úéed listerine® whitening® vibrant white™ rinse. the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leading toothpaste. and kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™.

it is in the mail. many of you probably already have t the 2010 census survey. next, you could get a call or an e-mail, but it won't be from the government and ines ferre. good to see you. what do we need to watch out for here? >> scam artists try to work on something topical in the news that people don't fully understand and that makes the 2010 census a prime target. the census questionnaire has a total of ten questions and none of those questions should ask you for bank account information, a credit card number or your social security number. you may be asked general financial information like your salary range, keep in mind that the census will never contact you by e-mail. also don't ever click on a link or open any attachments in an e-mail that supposedly from the u.s. census bureau, tony.

>> yeah, but census workers are going door to door on this, correct? >> right. well, see, if people don't mail back their forms, census takers will visit homes and if a u.s. census worker knocks on their door they'll have a badge, a handheld device and a census bureau canvas bag and a confidentiality notice and ask to see their identification and their badge before answering questions. also, if someone shows up at your door and asks you for money to pay for the 2010 census or asks you for your social security number don't give it out. it will only ask you the same questions that are on that survey, tony. >> gotcha. detroit, a city with high unemployment and low in student enrollment. we will get to the press conference right now as we promised. here is robert bob. he is detroit public schools emergency financial manager. >> significantly, this plan allows us to cut operating costs

by approximately $31 million in 2010 and ensures lower maintenance costs with fewer fas -- when fewer facilities come online in outgoing and future years. most importantly for the residents of the city of detroit the parents and children of the detroit public schools this plan offers an investment, potential investment of over $1 billion in city neighborhoods assuming the citizens of detroit approve and take an active role in the approval of a new bond measure some time in the future. i might also add that all of the schools that are to be built and are renovated will improve not only the athletic complexes and will offer health clinics and public spaces. it's important that the investments that we're making in these schools also are

investments where in the community themselves can participate in using these facilities after-hours. this plan will coincide with the district's $41 million we're currently investing over the next few months in security upgrades at all of our schools. phase one will see the investment of $500.5 million from federal stimulus bonds and phase two will require a future investment of approximately $500 million. the plan calls for the closure of 45 facilities in june with most programs moving to new or ren straighted fovated faciliti. the community will have several opportunities to provide feedback. we will be hosting a series of town hall meetings across the entire community and we expect the community to provide us with

feedback and we are soliciting the community's feedback. a final decision on the final plan will be made in mid to late april. i would like to walk you through the process that we followed which began with data gathering on these aspects of the distr t district. we've spent literally hundreds of hours analyzing data and the city of detroit. >> you've been listening to robert bob, detroit's schools financial manager and you heard him laying out the plan to restructure detroit's school system, 45 facilities to be closed in june. the public comment portion of this whole roll out going out from mid to late april. you heard the word investment a lot even as bob was announcing the closure of facilities.

$31 million is the estimated savings to the district in 2010 if this plan as laid out today is enacted and the system will need a bond measure at some point down the road to move forward. no idea when that's on the schedule, if that's on the legislative calendar at this point. let's get you to josh levs now, and josh, i guess the question -- josh is coming back later? okay. when we talk to josh we'll talk about whether or not stimulus funds could help the situation in detroit. we're back in a moment. you're in "the cnn newsroom." client's come in, they're anxious. scared. they don't know where to begin. so we start to talk about what have they done and what are their goals. and then we plan. it's a very good feeling as an advisor to work with people and help get them to their goals. once people perceive that they can control their destiny

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you know, we're talking about a fast and furious battle against rising floodwaters. just hours ago the red river reached major flood stable in fargo, north dakota. let's do this. let's check in with rob marciano. we'll talk to someone on the ground there, one of the officials dealing with this and helping with the people in the community, the school kids and everyone else who are helping to fill those sandbags. that's next hour, but man, they've got a real problem on their hands now in fargo and in the northeast as well. >> can you imagine having a life-threatening deadline that you knew about two months out? >> is it sunday? are we talking about -- >> the crest is sunday. >> they've known this was coming for a month or so because of the snow pack and the fall rains and because it had been so cold and now it's happening, and to add

insult to injury it's happening for the second year in a row. >> exactly. >> good news today. it's sunny. it will remain dry, not only today, but for much of the next few days, warm air is coming in and coming in ferociously. temperatures can get into the upper 50s, if not lower 60s and that will speed up the melting. a little bit of rain in the southeast and that's about it as far as floodwaters go. remember, the red river flows to the north, so it heads to colder waters where it's frozen in spots so ice jams make it more unpredictable as far as what we're doing for the flow of this thing. right now it's at 30 feet and forecasted to crest at 39 feet early sunday morning. that will change probably and remember, the record is 40 feet from last year. they managed to save most of the town last year through a tremendous effort and what's ironic about that, tony, is if there was a disaster and they weren't able to save it, they would probably get a bunch of

federal money to help build up dikes and prevent this from happening again, but, you know, the spirit there is so strong both there and in moorehead that they're going out again this week and hopefully they'll make it through the weekend. >> you know, i'll ask that question of the city official i talked to last hour. at some point it seems the right thing to do would be to provide the extra reinforcements there. >> do it before it happens. >> do it before it happens. right. preventive tp we don't talk enough about that. thank you, sir. detroit, a city with high unemployment, a city low in student enrollment and will a boost from stimulus funds fix things. josh levs will break it down here in the cnn "newsroom." ally shown 24 hours. for skin that looks and feels truly comfortable. lubriderm®. your moisture matched.

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made with pure cane sugar and stevia. with just 5 calories a packet. new sun crystals all-natural sweetener. i like that. just minutes ago we heard detroit public schools emergency financial manager robert bob talking about a plan to close 45 schools. it includes a major academic

overhaul partially funded by federal stimulus money. josh levs is at stimulus desk and all right, josh, how much stimulus money are we talking about here? >> giant sums. i hadn't seen the whole cartoon yet either. >> that was good, wasn't it? >> that was nice. i like it. huge sums of money. everyone should understand the stimulus changed our economy. it was passed last year and it involves hundreds of billions of dollars and in a lot of ways it is fundamentally changing the way stay cities and states are operating economically and you keep seeing this big news out of school districts around the country. it feels like every few days a new school district is announcing all the closures. a lot of this is very tightly connected to the stimulus. the opportunity to grab some of those federal dollars. here's what detroit is doing, they have this $540 million project going on. this is what they're announcing they want to do. of that $310 million is coming from the stimulus. that's a huge chunk of change they're using to make changes there and guess what? they're saying it's not enough.

they're also saying that they're chasing after $80 million from this project called race to the top which is funded by the stimulus. the school districts around the country are hoping to get their hands on on this money and it's a $4.5 billion plan in which states are competing to get that money. we have a map that will show you which states are still in the running to get it right now. 15 states and washington, d.c., that are trying to get their hands on that money right now. michigan is not one of them, but michigan is hoping to get it in the next round in june. a lot of the schools, tony, doing everything they can to show federal officials that they're serious about making big changes in the hopes that they will get even more stimulus money, tony. >> you know, the stimulus, well, you know this as well as anyone. you've been on the desk for months now. it's supposed to be about creating and saving jobs. do we know how many jobs will come from all of this money? >> we actually don't. in the case of detroit, how many jobs will ultimately come out of that. we do know it's just a piece of

what they're getting. they also have $500 million they're talking about for construction out of stimulus funds to build and modernize buildings and we do have a big picture on that. nationally, the education department has gotten basically $100 billion out of stimulus. by far, more than those road projects and you heard about shovel ready. >> by far the education department is grabbing $100 billion total, 98.3, 71 billion was awarded so far. the education department tells me 300,000 jobs have already been funded and we're hearing from folks right there at cnn.com/josh, facebook and twitter, joshlevs, cnn, and the best website in the world, cnn.com/tony and a lot of people weighing in on what it's doing for their schools so far. what we're seeing is everyone wants that money. >> we have phone calls going on as well. folks are weighing in in big numbers. love it. see you next hour. is there a lesson to be learned by other public school

systems from a state ranked number one in quality of education? we will talk to the woman in charge. my good friend, nancy grasmick next, right? nancy, smile at me. i haven't seen you in forever. nancy is next here in the cnn "newsroom." he checks it out. good thing. turns out... my urinary symptoms -- such as going frequently, trouble going, flow starts and stops... and going often at night -- are due to bph, also called enlarged prostate. he says over time, avodart has been shown to shrink the prostate, improve urinary symptoms, and reduce the risk of prostate surgery. only your health care provider can tell if your symptoms... are from bph and not a more serious condition... like prostate cancer. do not donate blood until 6 months after stopping avodart. tell your doctor if you have liver disease. rarely sexual side effects, swelling or tenderness... of the breasts can occur. avodart is for men only.

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school closings, budget cuts and student protest. we're digging deeper in these stories in the cnn "newsroom" for you. we've invited superintendent of schools, nancy grasmick. schools there are doing well because they've made educational funding a priority. good to have you on the program. i wasn't aware of this until someone from the team made me aware of it that just last year education week ranked your state's education system as number one based on -- we're talking about test score, graduation rates. what do you think you're doing right in the state -- in my home state of mareland right now? >> well, tony it's wonderful to be with you today. >> good to see you. >> and to talk about maryland's successes. this is the second year in a row we've been ranked number one and we're very pleased by that, but we have a long history of accountability for our schools that goes all of the way back to

1991, and so we insisted that every school be measured in terms of its performance. the school was not performing at a high standard that significant change hess to be made in those schools, replacing principals, replacing staff often. in addition to that, we haven't have insisted that our school systems hire highly qualified teachers with the right credentials and we had an infusion of 1.3 billion additional dollars for public education that really started ramping up in 2003. >> wow. is the big takeaway here that states should protect education budgets by law which i understand is the case in maryland. >> that is the case in maryland. there's a maintenance of effort requirement, and i do believe that the funding for school systems ought to be predictable.

there ought to be accountability for the dollars and it ought to be predictable and that law makes it predictable. >> are you worried about governor o'malley calling for some cuts that may be on the horizon and just how are you pushing back? well, i believe the governor, and i think he's demonstrated this during his tenure. he's a big supporter of public education as are the members of our general assembly. so we are not seeing at the moment huge cuts looming for public education. we have been the recipients of about $800 million in stimulus money, but the way we're using those dollars related to our school systems is to say don't invest this in personnel because this funding will end and we need to be able to sustain the use of whatever you're purchasing.

so it's more for professional development, for technology, things that will benefit us on a continuing basis. >> but you're able to do that because you've got set funding in place where other districts haven't been able to do that because their funding is really tied to state sales tax and to property taxes, correct? >> that's correct. >> okay. >> so we have a sustained and stable funding for the most part. >> i've got to show you -- we've got live pictures up here. the education secretary arnie duncan is on capitol hill. this week president obama is laying out changes to the no child left behind law. some critics say the proposals put all of the responsibility and much of the blame on the teachers if students don't perform. what is your thought on that critique? >> well, having been a teacher, i believe we do have an obligation to say is that child making growth within our

classroom? i mean, that's the purpose of education,s and not a set standard as we saw with no child left behind. it's a growth factor and it is much more customized to the baseline where that child began. i think it is very fair, as i understand kated, maryland's had a long history of accountability for its schools, and i believe this is in tandem with that belief that we have to perform. students are counting on us to perform and there have to be change fess we're not performing. >> nancy, great to see you as always. we'll talk to you again soon, i'm sure. >> thank you. >> let's do this, let's get a quick check of the top stories and a major sandbagging effort in fargo, north dakota, where the red river continues to rise. it is expected to crest 20 feet above flood level later this week. wells fargo is cutting more than 400 jobs in the sacramento

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putting soldiers at risk. abbey budrow with our special investigations unisit here. good to see you. what's different here? >> this is a major change that will relief a lot of frustration for troops on the ground in afghanistan. we spoke to soldiers who say the old policy put them at risk because they only had four days to question detainees before turning them over to afghans or releasing them. now they'll get two weeks. general david petraeus announced the change at a u.s. arms services committee and we asked him about the policy and why so many soldiers were saying it wasn't working. he told us it was a personal concern of his and this is what he told senator lindsay graham at the committee hearing. >> the secretary of defense has approv approved, in a sense, a u.s. caveat, if you will, that goes along with our transitioning of

authority of u.s. forces to nato control and it includes up to 14 days for interrogation, for analysis and then in some cases for those who need longer detention, that is also available as well. >> well, i want to thank you for leading that charge because i think our war fighters will appreciate that, particularly the marines down south and has that been well received by the force? >> it has, sir. again, if you know, if you want to live your values you have to set conditions in which our troopers can do just that. >> well, thank you. yes. i'm glad that you've been given some relief because the old rule just didn't make a whole lot of sense, and i think the new way forward does make sense. >> we are also told all u.s. troops will follow the new rule, the 14-day rule. the pentagon spokesman says he does not anticipate most suspects being held for the full 14 days. he says the new rule will help secure information from

high-value targets which are the biggest threat to u.s. troops. >> so abby, have you heard from any troops about how they feel about this rule change and how it might make it easier for them to do their jobs on the battlefield? >> i reached out to roger hill, the former army catch the an who was part of the original story in the 96-hour rule, in his case he had 12 taliban spies on his base that he was detaining and he didn't want to release them and he was running out of time because of the 96-hour time constraint. at the 86th hour, he came up with a plan to trick them into confessing and he said even though he should be excited and he does think it's good for troops, he said the timing of it all is upsetting and it just makes him feel sad. he said if he would have had 14 days as opposed to four days he would never have found himself in this situation and he plans to appeal his general discharge from the army. we'll follow that.

>> good story. abbie appreciate it, thank you. dr. pepper and other sugaried so as, a cnn money team on pepsi's learning curve.

cnn.com/tony takes you to our blog page. if you would like to send us your thoughts, go to tonyharris,

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the fight against childhood obesity is gaining traction. now pepsi is going to pull sugary drinks from the schools all around the world? stephanie elam is at the new york stock exchange with details. wow, this is big. is it also a first, stephanie? >> it is big, tony. and it is a first for a major

soft drink company. both pepsi and coca-cola pulled their high-calorie drinks from american schools. that happened back in 2006. but now pepsi is going global, hitting 200 countries by 2012. here exactly is the plan. in elementary schools worldwide pepsi will only sell water, fat free or low fat milk and sugar-free juice. high schools will offer those choices, plus low calorie soft drinks like diet pepsi. a big change from when i was in school, tony. >> wow. i love that! >> it is great. >> man. as a guy who is way too jacked up on sugary drinks today, maybe i could take pepsi's lead here. how is this going to affect food company's bottom line there? >> good question. pepsi says schools don't make up a big portion of their total revenue but there will definitely be a decline in sales. the question is how much. we do know that restrictions in the u.s. pushed down sales of high-calorie drinks in schools by 95% over the past five years.

but at this point, the fight against obesity is getting so much attention they almost have to get on board. even the first lady is behind it. michelle obama spoke at a food industry meeting yesterday and told companies to step it up. those are her words. and put less fat and sugar in foods at the same time, the fda is cracking down on misleading food labels. so some changes going on. probably better ones and calmer kids coming home after school, too, to their parents. on wall street, quick update here. stocks are on the upside. new report shows inflation is in check. that's allowing the fed to keep interest rates at record lows. dow up 47 points. nasdaq better by a little bit more than half a percent. not a bad st. patrick's day. green to match, green going around. nice. >> i'm talking about the green. stephanie, see you next hour. thank you. tiger woods returning to professional golf. can anyone say ka-ching? it is the sound of money for broadcast stations and sponsors.

here's what we're working on next hour, as detroit announces to shut down more schools, i'll talk to rod paige about the achievement gap between black and white students. and sandbaggers in fargo out in full force right now to face off against the mighty red river. the mayor joins me.

you know, maybe you've got to see it to believe in it.

the department of homeland security decided to cut funding for sbi net, that's the virtual wall designed to monitor illegal immigrants entering the united states in the southwest. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve joining us now from washington. good to see you, first of all. why these changes now? >> it's been a rocky road to development for this system that has cameras and sensors and communications gear. it was supposed to be a force multiplier for the border patrol to help secure the nation because it's been so rocky the secretary of homeland security janet napolitano announced yesterday $50 million in recovery act funding that was supposed to be spent on sbi net is now going to be reprogrammed. she's going to spend it on other kinds of technology off the shelf that's been proven. she says we're going to complete this stretch that we're worki